The invention relates to a machine used for picking tomatoes for further processing as well as for direct consumption.
A known tomato picking machine consists of a support frame, an articulated inclined vibrating conveyor fastened to its front part, and a tomato selector with planks placed above the conveyor. In front of the lower end of the inclined vibrating conveyor, a cutting disc device is placed with a ground level copying device positioned under it. A tomato separator is situated under the upper part of the inclined vibrating conveyor and a waste product cleaning conveyor is mounted under it. Across the machine are placed separating belt conveyors connected with a waste product cleaning conveyor at one end and a lengthwise belt conveyor at the other end. The lengthwise conveyor is joined with a crosswise picking conveyor and a side moving rake conveyor, these two being placed in succession. The support wheels of the ground level copying device touch the bottom of the furrows between every two neighboring beds. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,189,906, 4,365,461; 4,365,463; and 4,426,832. See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,045 which the inventors believe to be the closest prior art.
A drawback of known tomato pickers is that the gathering of tomatoes also involves the gathering of a great quantity of earth due to the cutting disc device used. The cutting disc device cannot prevent lumps of earth of considerable size from falling on the inclined vibrating conveyor when stems are being cut. The ground level copying at the bottom of the beds also contributes to this unsatisfactory feature of existing tomato picking machines. The belt conveyors used in picking technology are not an impediment to the earth impurities nor to the squashed or rotten tomatoes. Another disadvantage of the known technology is the constructive inadequacy of the picker in a field of abundant plants and weeds since its planks are rigidly fastened.